Can I Really Trust God With My Future?

“If I do things my way I will be happy. I can’t trust God with something like this!”

“God’s ways are too religious for me, I need to make things happen my way or else I won’t be happy.”

“Only I know what I need. My future is my problem. Jesus can just come along with me for when I need help.”

“This is too precious a thing to trust God with.”

All of these statements are made from people who have distrust in their hearts. God’s power and sovereignty is not real to them. They think they know what is best for them-they know what will make them happy, they know how to get it and they do it on their own terms without God. Sometimes, Christian girls (and men) have things in their lives that they are not willing to relinquish even though they know it goes against what God wants for them.

They think God doesn’t want what they want. They don’t know His motives, (no one does) so they don’t trust that He will make them happy.

How Do I Know He’s the ONE?

Have you ever wondered what true, lasting love looks and feels like? Maybe you are in a relationship that you think is not “living up to its true potential”. Maybe you need an example of real love to know if this is the guy for you; if he is the one that God has called you to marry.

We know that no one is perfect but don’t let that be your excuse to stay in a relationship with someone who might not be the one for you. Here are just a few ways that you should be able to tell that this man truly, really loves you like Christ loved the church.

I believe everyone has one great love in their life; an unexplainable, undeniable, unrepeatable love that can only fall short of the ONE greatest act of true love that this world will ever witness (Jesus’ sacrifice of His life for yours). The man who captures your heart will know you and will know your soul and he will love every single thing about you.

Letting Go of Pain and Suffering

When we look around at the circumstances of people in the world today, we discover that there is a vast amount of suffering and pain being endured. Many different people struggle with many different types of suffering. Hospitals are full of horrible diseases and injuries, parents are getting divorces, babies are being aborted, war is raging, people are being sold into slavery, drug abuse and alcoholism is affecting more and more people and the list goes ever on and on.

People are hurting. Everyone is affected by suffering or pain at one point in their life-it may not be physical but everyone goes through tragedy. And when they do, they look up to the sky in a moment of anger and rage and ask the all too familiar question “Why is God allowing this to happen to me?” Or “If God is so good, why does He allow suffering?”

Addressing this topic has not been easy. Books have been written, sermons have been taught, and speeches have been made. But this is what God showed me when I went through a tragedy of my own last month. I was at a low point and my heart was crying out to God. I felt like David in Psalms 69 when he said:  “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.” Verse 1-3

What Your Dream Guy Wants in a Girl

(Guest Post) 

I recently did an interview on the topic of dating, marriage and courtship. I was giving my thoughts on romance, boundaries, guys and how I want my future relationship to work out.

One of the questions the lady interviewing me asked was “what qualities are you looking for in guy?” 

Talk about a super basic question that I should easily know the answer to. Wrong! I was totally caught off guard and had to scramble to give an answer. It had been awhile since I’d seriously thought through that question and wasn’t really prepared.

After the interview I rethought through her question and was pretty satisfied with my “on the spot” answer.

I told the lady that I was praying for a man who: 

1. Is concerned about glorifying God with his life.

2. Has an eternal mindset (not just living for the here and now.)

3. Loves children and desires a family.

4. Has a passion for ministering to the people around him.

“Love Is…”

Define “love.” What is love? The Merriam-Webster definition of the noun,”love,” is: “a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person,” or “attraction that includes sexual attraction.”

Now, those are pretty familiar definitions, but is that all love really is? Is love merely “feelings of affection” or “sexual attraction,” or is it more? If love is nothing more than feelings or attraction, you can bet it won’t last long. Feelings and attraction can come in a day and leave just as quickly.  Thankfully, love is not simply feelings or attraction. Love may RESULT in these things (feelings, attraction), but they are by no means what love IS. Love is selflessness. Feelings are fleeting, but a choice to love is solid and unwavering. 1 Corinthians 13 gives many examples of what love truly is and what it isn’t.

The first quality of love, listed in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, is patience.

Patience has been a struggle of mine for years.  I was born impatient (at least that’s how it felt), and grew to be impatient before I had the wisdom to realize I had done it.  I tried to work on it, but my patience never lasted for long.

My husband was quite possibly the biggest reason I ever had for being patient. Don’t take me wrong here, I don’t mean he was hard to get along with; on the contrary, he was very easy to get along with.  We were just beginning our relationship together at the time, and it was wonderful.  He was a very patient person (he still is), and didn’t like it when people got “bent out of shape” about things.  His incredible patience and desire for others to have patience was what drove me to pursue patience and contentment.  I don’t know if he even realizes it, but he was the reason I tried so hard to be patient at home.  I’m so thankful for his constant example to me.  Now, I’m significantly more patient than I used to be (though definitely not as patient as I will be someday), and I’m much more content.